The experience of changing over is never easy but we are very happy with the help we've received along the way. WebEd is easy to use and flexible. I have been talking with the Customer Community team about ways of making the application even more dynamic. We have lots of ideasKevin Holloway - Holloway Consulting

Shopping Cart - Australian Marine Conservation Society

The Australian Marine Conservation Society is the independent voice for the protection of Australia's coasts and oceans. They have been operating for over forty years and their conservation work is funded by the generosity of Australians who wish to have the oceans conserved for generations to come.

One aspect of fundraising comes from the AMCS website's new online shop where customers are able to purchase products such as sustainable fishing guides, t-shirts supporting the campaign and jewellery featuring ocean wildlife.

Before the new online shop was introduced there was only a very limited way customers could buy merchandise from the charity. It involved filling out a very basic order form and customers were only able to purchase one item at a time. AMCS admit that this was both frustrating for the customer and was restricting the opportunities to raise vital funds. It was also presenting an unprofessional and outdated image of the charity.

The aim of the new shop was to create an easy to use shopping experience and the opportunity to raise funds. The shopping cart can now contain any order size and is very user friendly as it will calculate the price of the order and different sizes and colours of the same product can be added to the cart.

As with the previous project Customer Community and AMCS worked together on there was once again a strong working relationship. AMCS have been grateful for the expertise and experience of Customer Community's staff as well as the ongoing support once the online shop went live.

AMCS say that there have been multiple advantages of the new online shop such as the increased opportunity to raise funds, the professional look and more chances for customers to register their support. As the shop also works with the WebEd payment gateway module it means the funds automatically appear in the organisations bank account freeing up important members of the organisation for more valuable tasks.

The shop is only a recent addition to the website therefore they are still yet to receive most of the feedback. However thanks to the use of an email newsletter send out at the beginning of December AMCS were able to inform supporters about the shop in the run up to Christmas. Feedback to this service has been very positive.

AMCS are very impressed with how the store has improved their website, has increased funds to the charity, is very user friendly and gives a good impression of the website. But in the long run it will also make better use of the charity's resources as they will no longer require people on the phone dealing with orders and frustrated customers.